"The Konarak temple represents the period when dance and architecture reached a point of climax in history and followed a sharp decline when Islam and later colonialism affected the culture and arts due to the changing religious and political scene of the state. Odissi dancers in the temples were considered prostitutes and when British rule came in to effect the performance of Odissi as a religious ritual was completely banned from the temple. For 200 years Odissi dance faced the most draw back until it was in the 1950s when the country was in the process of regaining its national identity after its independence in 1947."